Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, who's been with the Mumbai police for twenty years, is called to the scene when a dead body is discovered on Madh Island.
During excavations for a luxury spa on the site, laborers uncover the corpse of a woman missing her head, hands, and feet. The bodies of two more women are found nearby, also missing their heads, hands, and feet.
The mutilated corpses stir a memory in Arnav and he has his capable assistant, Sub-Inspector Sita Naik, look up all unsolved cases involving decapitated bodies.
It turns out at least five beheaded female bodies were found in Mumbai over the last twenty years, and Arnav believes a serial killer is at work.
Businessman Rahul Taneja, who's building the spa on Madh Island, has powerful connections among police and politicians, and he's anxious to have construction continue....so he pulls some strings.
Thus high-ranking police officials discourage Arnav's talk of a serial killer, and encourage him to release the island crime scene so construction of the spa can resume.
As it turns out there's an entire cadre of people who want Arnav's serial killer inquiries shut down, including police, mobsters, government officials, and Bollywood bigwigs.
Worse yet, some conspirators seem willing to kill Arnav to stop the investigation.
Arnav has other things on his mind as well. He still pines for an old girlfriend named Tara Mondal, who was a teenage dancer in an establishment called The Blue Bar when Arnav met her.
Tara disappeared from Mumbai fourteen years ago, without a word to Arnav, and the Inspector still mourns the break-up.
In Arnav's free time he sees his current girlfriend, a journalist named Nandini.....
.....and hangs out with his colleague and best friend Hemant Shinde.
Both Arnav and Shinde long to expose a corrupt Joint Commissioner of Crime named Neelesh Joshi, who didn't properly investigate the rape of Arnav's sister Asha many years ago - implying Asha shouldn't have been out at night.
The resulting distress and humiliation led to Asha's suicide and Arnav is determined to take Joshi down.
Meanwhile, dance bars, which had been banned in Mumbai for over a decade because of unsavory practices, are being permitted to reopen. This includes The Blue Bar, and Tara Mondal is returning for one week, to work as a dancer and choreographer.
This leads to Arnav and Tara meeting again after fourteen years, and results in various kinds of drama.
The story is told in alternating chapters that follow the points of view of of Arnav, Tara, a character called 'the boy', and the boy's servant Bilal.
In Arnav's sections we observe his investigation of the serial killings, his renewed relations with Tara, and his delving into suspected collusion among cops, gangsters, politicos, business executives, and the like....whose main interests are power and money.
In Tara's chapters, we learn what's it like to dance in Mumbai bars - with drunk smelly men pawing you, throwing money at you, and negotiating for 'night work' (prostitute services).
We also find out why Tara left Mumbai fourteen years ago, after her boss at The Blue Bar sent her to entertain a perverted rich client who had special requests.
In sections devoted to the boy, we meet the psychopathic murderer that kills and mutilates women.
And in Bilal's chapters we discover that he's looked after the boy for many years, and (reluctantly) helped clean up after the boy's unsavory activities.
The novel immerses us in Indian culture, and though I'm not familiar with all the references to festivals, food, clothing, language, gods, goddesses, etc., I enjoyed the depictions. Moreover, I often felt I was steeped in the ambiance of Mumbai. For example, when young Tara first arrived in Mumbai on a train, "The stench of the city had overwhelmed her: a mix of rotting vegetation, frankincense, urine, perfume, frying fish, and the hopes and despair of more people than she'd ever seen gathered in one place."
And when Tara was sent to Borivali Train Station during rush hour, "[She] elbowed her way through the milling passengers. Many regional languages. Body odor. Perfumes. If she didn't give way to the men, they'd shove her at the shoulder if she was lucky; lower, if she wasn't."
I also liked the sprinkling of Indian slang words, like pandu (idiotic policeman); khabri (police informers); khajoor (stupid person); supari (contract to kill); fattu (a person who's afraid of breaking rules); and more.
I enjoyed the book, which is essentially a police procedural in an exotic (to me) setting. I look forward to future books in the series.
Thanks to Netgalley, Damyanti Biswas, and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of the manuscript.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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